Day
12, Sunday, April 26, 2015
I was able to finish the Blog and pictures at somewhat of
a decent hour last night. I set my alarm
for 6:30 AM. It went off and, as much as
I wanted to ignore it, I turned it off and got up. I got dressed and packed. J.B. did not move or wake up. I took a couple of bags out to my
Motorcycle. As I was walking past the
breakfast room, I saw Ken sitting and having breakfast. I loaded my Motorcycle and cleaned it up a
little. I went into the breakfast room and
sat with Ken. We had some laughs at
others’ expense and then J.B. came in.
The others came in slowly. We all
had breakfast and Chuck was studying the map with J.B. We all packed our Motorcycles and rode a
short distance to a gas station. We all
filled up and it was J.B.’s turn to lead.
We left at 9:09 AM.
J.B. led us north on Highway 280 North. After about 10 minutes, we rode into the
Central Time Zone. We gained an
hour. J.B. led the group. It was a cool morning, some had jackets and
some didn’t. We rode for a while. We came up on I-85 North and J.B. led us on
it. We rode for about two miles and we
got off. J.B. led us on a u-turn and
back on I-85 South. We rode for three
miles, came up to Highway 280 West. I
thought that we were going to get off, but J.B. continued south. Chuck rode up from behind me and in front of
J.B. We rode for a mile and Chuck led us
off of I-85 South, made a u-turn and back onto I-85 North. Chuck gave up the lead and J.B. took over. On the CB, Jan stated that Jake probably
feels better for yesterday. We rode for
a mile and got off at Highway 280 West.
WOW! That was fun. Thanks J.B.
for taking one major item off of my “Bucket List,” touring I-85 in
Alabama! We headed west on Highway
280. We rode through several small
cities and after riding 76 miles, we stopped at 9:17 AM in Alexander City, Ala
for a pit stop. Remember, we gained an
hour. We didn’t ride for 76 miles in 8
minutes. While we were taking a break,
Chuck bought a cup of “Boiled Peanuts.’
They just don’t sound good to me.
He ate them and liked them. He
did offer some to us. Jake tried one and
as he ate it, he said that it turned to “mush.”
No more for him. We finished our
break and we left at 9:59 AM.
J.B. led us on Highway 280 again. We rode for a short distance and turned onto
Highway 9. We rode through the small town
of Goodwater. It was a nice, clean town,
but I noticed that there weren’t any people out and about. There was hardly any traffic. I then realized that it was Sunday morning
and I’m sure that the people were in Church.
We continued on Highway 9. We
rode for 63 miles and stopped at 11:05 AM in Hollis Cross Roads, Ala. J.B. needed to look at the map. While J.B. and Chuck were looking at the map,
I rode across the street to a gas station to go use the restroom. When I got out, the guys were already moving
north on Highway 431, leaving at 11:14 AM.
I caught up and got into my position.
We went under I-20 and turned left onto Highway 78 West. We rode for 14 miles and at 11:29 AM, we
arrived in Oxford, Ala at a Subway for lunch.
We took our time eating and relaxed a bit. C.E. rode his Motorcycle to the gas station
and gassed up. We were done eating and
relaxing and mounted our Motorcycles and left at 12:14 PM.
J.B. led the group north on Highway 431 North. A short distance later, there was a fork in
the road. To the left was Highway 431
and to the right was Highway 21. Can you
guess which road J.B. took? Yup, you’re
right. We went right. We rode about a quarter mile and J.B. and the
group made a u-turn, back to the fork and then north on Highway 431. J.B. led for 58 miles and at 1:24 PM, we
arrived at Boaz, Ala where we all gassed up.
It was now Ken’s turn to lead.
Ken told us that if we thought that there were a lot of u-turns with Jake
and J.B., stand by for his lead. We left
at 1:41 PM.
Ken led us back onto Highway 431. We rode into a town named, “Albertville.” I liked the name…I don’t know why. We then rode into Guntersville, where there
was a lake. We rode over several bridges. There were a lot of boaters and fishermen on
the lake. We rode around the lake going
from Highway 431 to Highway 79. Ken did
a great job leading us and it was flawless.
(He paid me to write this.) Ken
was AWESOME! (Ken paid me to write this
also.) We rode north on Highway 79 and
at 3:02 PM, we went over the Tennessee State Line. Highway 79 turned into Highway 16 in
Tennessee. It was starting to get
cold. The sky was overcast and it was getting
dark…at 3:02 PM!!! After about two miles
of riding in Tennessee, Ken motioned to me, I was behind Ken, to pull over and
stop on the shoulder. We had ridden for
71 miles and it was 3:04 PM. We were in
the middle of forest, on a two lane road.
Ken got off of his Motorcycle and told us that he was cold and was going
to put on his jacket. I had checked the
temperature and it was 61 degrees. We
all put our jackets on and since we were “one with nature,” it was time to go
and water the plants and trees. For
those who don’t understand, we needed a pit stop. We took care of our needs, returned to our
Motorcycles warmer and with no stress, and left at 3:13 PM.
We continued on Highway 16. We were feeling much better. Jackets and
warmer gloves did feel good. I also put
on my heater on my Motorcycle. It felt
good! I checked the temperature a couple
of times and it got down to 57 degrees.
We came up to the end of Highway 16 and the Junction with Highway
64. Ken turned left, going west towards
Fayetteville, TN. We rode for a few
miles, entered Fayetteville and Ken motioned for me to ride next to him. I did and he told me to help him find a
hotel. Just after he asked, I saw a
billboard for the Best Western in Fayetteville.
It directed us to turn left at the next light. In less than a mile, there was the
light. We turned and about a half mile
later, there was the Best Western hotel.
We pulled in, Jan and I went in to “make the deal.” We were offered a good deal and then I asked
for another deal, four rooms instead of one.
We got a lower price. SCORE! We checked in, got our rooms and unloaded our
Motorcycles and put our stuff in our rooms.
We have new partners tonight.
Jan/Chuck, C.E./Jake, J.B./Bruce and Ken/Me. We hung around the lobby drinking coffee and
then we rode about two miles away to “Sam’s Place” Restaurant for dinner. After dinner we rode back to the hotel and it
was cold. We parked in front of our
rooms and tucked our Motorcycles in for the night. We returned to the lobby for more
coffee. Do you think that, maybe, we
like coffee?
Today we rode for 330 miles. We made a lot of u-turns, thanks to J.B. We made fun of him and we didn’t laugh with
him, we laughed at him! It’s all in good
fun. EVERYONE gets their turn! It happens, we have fun and we move on…until
next time. Of course, some are concerned
that they will be put on this blog. I’ve
told them before; NOONE is exempt from this blog. It’s all in fun. You guys get to read what we go through.
Tomorrow we will head west. Chuck mentioned that we might go to Natchez
Trace. We have been there on prior rides;
however, we have not done the entire thing.
We may or may not do the entire thing this time. As you have read, plans change time and time
again. We shall see. So, until tomorrow…
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